Virtual chocolate factory social game to offer real chocolate

The basic premise of PlayFirst Inc.’s social networking game “Chocolatier: Sweet Society” is to make virtual chocolates to sell in a chocolate store set in San Francisco, circa 1882. There’s no way to avoid having your mouth water thinking about eating chocolates while playing the game.

So it’s a natural that PlayFirst is teaming up Tuesday with another San Francisco company, Charles Chocolates, to try to satiate those choco-desires.

Chocolatier players (there are about 900,000 monthly actives) will have five new recipes to make Charles Chocolates confections in their virtual factories. But once they unlock all five recipes in the game, players will be able to order special boxes of the real thing to eat themselves or give as gifts to friends.(See screenshot below.)

“This is the first time you will be able to create virtual goods and connect them with real goods,” said Eric Hartness, general manager of social games for San Francisco’s PlayFirst.

The artisan chocolate maker will offer special boxes featuring combinations that won’t be available anywhere but from within the Chocolatier game. Those include Jasmine Tea Truffle, Raspberry Heart Truffle, Milk Chocolate Peanut Butterfly, Toasted Almond Cluster and Classic Fleur de Sel Caramel.

“The opportunities for us are obviously great,” said Chuck Siegel, who founded Charles Chocolates six years ago.

Charles Chocolates will remain part of the game, but the “real deal” confections will only be available until Dec. 31. However, there may be more deals in advance of the opening of the company’s new open chocolate kitchen in the Westfield Center in downtown San Francisco.

The 5,000-square-foot facility, which includes a retail store and a glassed-in factory that lets the public view chocolate being made, is scheduled to open before Valentine’s Day in February.